Wood flooring



R. G. BRUCE May 12, 1942.

Patented May 12, 1942 WOOD FOORING Robert G. Bruce, `Memp E. L. Bruce Company,

his, Tenn., assignor to a 'corporation of Dela- Application October 16, 1939, Serial No. 299,742

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a Wood flooring strip and a floor made out of such strips that will have a patterned appearance, producing what is referred to herein as a streamline effect, by analogy to the new streamline railroad trains that are generally characterized in outline by horizontal parallel lines, interrupted by transverse lines, as at each car length, connecting the parallel lines.

What is known in the trade as strip flooring, and the floors made therefrom, have for a long time remained unchanged so far as appearance is concemed. The greatest width in regular hardwood strip flooring, where my invention will find its largest utilization, is 21A; inch face, decreasing in width through various sizes to 2, 11/2, 1 inch, etc. The idea in making a fioor out of such strips was to produce one that was as smooth as possible, the flooring being milled so accurately that merely a hairline crack, if any, was produced at the joints between the strips.

In recent years there has been developed a type of flooring known as plank flooring, made up of strips, usually much wider than 21A; inch face, the normal minimum width of the plank being of the order of 4-6 inches and running up through various widths as 8, 10, 12 inches, etc. Due to the fact that the boards are much wider than in ordinary strip flooring, greater expansion and contraction due to moisture absorption or loss, takes place and instead of a hairline crack between the strips as in narrow strip flooring, there was provided a V shaped groove along the longitudinal'abutting face edges of the planks, but not the transverse or end edges. The function of this groove was to diminish the deleterious effects which arise 'from swelling of the Wood due to moisture absorption, as disclosed in the patent to C. A. Bruce 1,808,591 dated June 2, 1931. i

In producing a floor of the desired streamline design, I use a strip having a width of about 31A inches, which is about midway between the width of the widest strip flooring and the narrowest plank flooring, as commonly used in this country and I bevel or round not only the longitudinal face edges, but alsovthe transverse face edges so that when the floor is laid up into a panel, as shown in Fig. 1, the desired streamline pattern is produced, by the use of strips of the above width, in association with the longitudinal and transverse grooves. It will be understood that the strips vary in length, as with ordinary strip flooring, ranging from 1 foot to 16 feet in length and that the proportion of long and short strips will be about the same as with strip flooring.

Referring now to the drawing for a more complete disclosure of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fragmentof a floor panel made from the novel flooring-strip.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a single strip. I

Fig. 3 is a side view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a section similar to Fig. 5 of a modified form. z

The elongated strip I, with the grain of the wo'od running in the same plane as the face, is provided along one longitudinal edge with an integraltongue 2 and along one transverse edge with an integral tongue 3, and along the opposite longitudinal edge with a groove 4 and along the opposite transverse edge with a groove 5. In the preferred form of matching, as shown in Fig. 5 and similarly shown in the aforesaidpatent, the sides of the tongue and groove'are parallel and the edges of the strips immediately above the tongue and groove are in abutting relationship,

while below they are slightly spaced apart to providethe usual relief. Both of the longitudinal surface edges of the strip are beveled or rounded at 6 and 1 and both of the transverse surface edges are beveled or rounded at 8 and 9. The bevel edges should be placed at approximately a degree angle (a) Fig. 5, to the plane of the bottom of the strip. The width (b) Fig. 5, in the plane of the face and the corresponding height (c) should be not more than z of an inch, and as small as is practical of manufacture.

In case of a bevel the above described 45 degree angle has been found to be the best angle.v

If the angle is too Vertical, it produces the appearance of a deep crack and if it is too horizontal it does not give the desired shadow effect.l

In order to get the desired effect, the flooring is laid by the customary blind nailing IB. The usual narrow strip flooring is almost universally blind nailed along the longitudinal edge to the subfloor but the wider plank. flooring is not commonly successfully laid in this manner. While plank flooring may receive some blind nailing along the longitudinal edge, it is usually screwed down or nailed through the face, plugs being inserted to cover up the heads of the screws, and for appearance. By using a width of about 31/4 inches, somewhat intermediate the customary width of strip and plank flooring, it is still posv sible to successfully lay the strip entirely by blind nailing, thereby securing the streamline effect in the completed floor, through maximum width of strip and without any this is about the strip that can be nailing.

In securing the streamline effect in the fioor, it is, important that the strips be very straight and in order to obtain straight pieces, they must be selected as such from ordinary stock or manufactured by running them through a straight edge rip saw that will not follow the grain of the Wood.

It is also important that this type of flooring should be manufactured with a tight match. This is particularly true where the strip is to be factory finished and to avoid producing *'overwood" which might result from a loose match and which might alfect the appearance of the fioor.

Instead of having a beveled face, as shown in Fig. 5, the edges can be rounded as shown in Fig. 6, to produce the same desired effect.

In connection with the tight matching, it is desirable to lubricate the groove of each piece so that the tongue can be readily inserted therein. This can be effected best by spraying some lubricating material, such as paraflin, into the grooves of the strip. It is preferred to coat the groove visible fastening means, but maximum width of hardwood held in place, merely by blind rather than the tongue of the strip, because when the tongue is covered with the lubricant and the nail is driven through the tongue, the lubricating material adheres to the nail and it will not hold properly.

There is also the further' advantage that the lubricant cannot be wiped or knocked off of the groove as when it is on the tongue. Furthermore, when the lubricant is applied to the groove side, including the Vertical faces of the two lips of the groove, it prevents squeaking of the fioor, which is due to the rubbing together of the pieces of wood in close contact.

In addition to blind nailing the strip to the subfloor through the longitudinal tongue side, I may also blind nail through the transverse tongue side and in order to successfully nail through the end grain, the stock should be bored to receive the nail. With the nails in the end, pointing in a direction at right angles to those along the longitudinal side of the strip, there is a better holding effect than where the nails point only in one direction as in blind nailing ordinary strip flooring, which is not nailed through the' transverse end.

I may also treat the strips before finishing and after manufacture with some form of moisture resisting materials so as to inhibit any changes in the shape of the strip due to the introduction or subtraction of moisture from the Wood.

In order tosecure the desired streamline effect in a floor panel, the width of the strip in association with the beveled longitudinal and transverse face edges is an important factor. Beveling of the ordinary narrow strip fiooring produces a multiplicity of lines in a fioor panel that are so close together that the desired streamline effect is not obtained. While the primary purpose herein is to produce the streamline pattern effect, there are other advantages that flow from a strip of this construction.

Since the strips are beveled or rounded on all of the four face' edges, the strips can be surface finished at the factory and laid in the fioor without any further finishing, the bevelled or rounded edges all around the strip minimizing the slight irregularities inthe level' of adjacent strips so that they are not readily apparent to the eye.

Strip flooring manufacturers accumulate quite a percentage of strips that are about 4 inches wide which are suitable for flooring but heretofore there had been no appreciable or commercial demand in this country for such material. My invention puts this size of material to commercial use because it is readily adapted to my invention. Accordingly, there is an economic ad- Vantage in the manufacture of this type of strip over ordinary strip flooring. Furthermore, a greater footage of flooring can be produced on a given set of flooring machines Operating at the same speed on the wider width stock, the surface area of flooring produced being larger with the same number of men. The machine operators will have less lineal footage of stock to handle for the same fioor area. There are in addition economies in handling and in application. It requires less nailing to nail this type of floor due to its greater width and accordingly application costs are reduced, as well as material costs in nails purchased, and in labor in handling and nailing.

I claim:

1. A fioor panel formed from a plurality of straight strips of wood in prolongation of each other, each of said strips being of uniform width, with the grain of the wood running in the same plane as the face of the strip, the said strips being united along their longitudinal edges by tongue and groove joints and along their transverse edges by tongue and groove joints and held tween the longitudinal and transverse abutting edges of the strips respectively and formed by a bevel along the entire length and width of the face edges of the strip, the width of the strips being intermediate the width of strip and plank fiooring and of the order of about 31/4 inches.

2. A floor panel formed from a plurality of straight strips of woo'd in prolongation of each other, each of said strips being of uniform width, with the grain of the Wood running in the same plane as the face of thestrip, the said strips being united along theirv longitudinal edges by tongue and groove joints and along their transverse edges by tongue and groove joints and held down in position by blind nailing through t`v longitudinal tongue side and the transverse tongue side, V shaped grooves between the longitudinal and transverse abutting edges of the strips respectively and formed by a bevel along the entire length and width of the face edges of the strip, the width of the strips being intermediate the width of strip and plank f'looring and of the order of about 3% inches.

3. The panel of claim 1 in which the sides of the tongue and groove are parallel, a portion of the edges of the strips above the tongue and groove being at right angles to the sides of the tongue and groove and in abutting relationship, the portion of the edges below the tongue and groove being spaced apart.

ROBERT G. BRUCE. 

